Education: High-School Hell

For 23 years, Oregon has had a law forbidding high-school secret
societies but in Oregon's largest city, high-school kids have paid no
attention. In Portland (pop. 400,000), the societies flourish. They
have mysterious names like EUK, Pack and Domino; they pledge socially
prominent classmates, hotshot athletes or just kids "who have
something," from convertibles to "cute personalities."

Last week the Portland school board suddenly sat up and took notice. For
one thing, the current Ladies' Home Journal was carrying an exposé of
such societies that quoted a former Portland boy named Chuck Swanman.
On "Hell Night" he had been taken to a...